Research and Response Directions

​PAGE ONE & TWO
Decorative title spread for the artist or topic you chose to study. Open your book flat and design both pages at once in either a vertical or horizontal format.  This will save you time, and will unify your overall design.  See the  design tips that follow the page by page directions in the downloadable handout above this content. 

When studying a specific artist or group of artists, be sure to include at least 6 high quality images of artworks that are indicative of the signature style.  Don’t make the mistake of including works in your research that don’t actually belong to the artist.  The six images can be spread across the four pages of your artist research in any manner that suits your design. It's important to label those images with the titles and dates to give context to the work.

​PAGE THREE & FOUR
Include the important information you gathered  and the questions you have about what you researched. There is no one way to include your research and response across this two page spread, It's just expected that you are thorough and authentic in your writing.  

Be creative and authentic  when displaying your research. Also, be sure that your handwriting is legible on the background you've chosen.  If your typography is not legible, your design is not effective. 
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 Your Design Journal is the most important tool you'll ever use as an artist.  I truly believe in the power of the journal as a space to harness your most important creative ideas, and we will use it every day in this class. 

WHAT IS THE DESIGN JOURNAL?
Your Design Journal will be a completely independent research and idea development journal. You will turn it in four times this year (once during each quarter). The grade for this quarterly project will weigh heavily toward your final grade, so please take it seriously.

WHAT GOES IN THE BOOK ?
Artist or Concept Research and Response (1 topic per installment)
Project Brainstorming
All Class Notes
Specific Drawing / Design Challenges 
Silent Critique Feedback  (Printed and Pasted From Schoology)
Instructor Feedback  (Printed and Pasted from Powerschool)

This journal will be a personal interaction between you and your work. I will also be involved in that interaction, as I guide you with questions and comments about the content of your journal.

WHAT IS MEANT BY RESEARCH?
Your research will consist of (but is not limited to) biographical and historical content, maps, examples of artwork, notes, personal responses, questions about your research, and sketches made from found information. Research can look many different ways, but it should be focused with the intention of informing your own work. 

MAKING PERSONAL CONNECTIONS
This is NOT a formal research paper. It will have entries that are written in first person. It will be about your personal experiences as you search for information. You will include information about your struggles and triumphs with your artwork and research. This personal account is just as important as the information that you find out about your topic.

WHERE TO FIND EXAMPLES
Examples of quality research pages can be found in the student online portfolios.  Each portfolio is required to have a visual journal page on which the student displays their research as well as their thinking processes.  These examples should be helpful for you and may guide you toward artists that interest you.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TO STUDY?
You could start by looking through the researched artists by past students. Be sure to choose artists whose work can be researched.  Obscure artists create a difficult challenge. Many students use social media to discover artists, which is acceptable.  I only ask that you consult me before committing to researching these lesser known artists.  
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BUDGET YOUR TIME.
Don’t wait until the day before it’s due to get started, or you will find the project to be overwhelming.  Many of you will do this, and will complain about the amount of work required to earn an “A”.  My advice is simply this: don’t wait until the last minute to get started.


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FIGURE DRAWING → MIXED MEDIA
Observation first. Interpretation second.

This assignment begins with one hour of drawing from life and ends with a mixed-media artwork that represents at least four hours of focused creative work. The goal is not simply to make the original drawing look “better.” Your job is to preserve what you observed, then use materials, experimentation, and intentional choices to transform that observation into something more personal and meaningful.

PART 1 — ONE HOUR FROM LIFE
You will work on 11 × 14-inch high-quality watercolor paper. Because the format is relatively small, every part of the picture plane is important. Before you become concerned with details, establish the entire composition.

Think first about:

• Composition: How will the figure occupy the 11 × 14 space? Consider positive and negative space, direction, gaze, movement, cropping, and visual balance.
• Structure: Establish the complete figure before refining individual areas. Work from the whole toward the parts.
• Proportion: Measure. Compare. Sight. Check relationships constantly. Proportion will be a major part of the assessment.
• Line quality: Begin lightly. Search, adjust, correct, and refine rather than committing too early to dark outlines.

At the end of the hour, STOP.

Photograph your drawing clearly before doing anything else to it. This photograph is your checkpoint and must be submitted. It documents what you accomplished through direct observation during our studio session.



PART 2 — TRANSFORM THE DRAWING
Take the original drawing home. Over the next two weeks, spend a minimum of three additional hours developing it into a finished mixed-media artwork.

You must incorporate at least three different media.
Possible materials include graphite, charcoal, Conté, colored pencil, ink, ballpoint pen, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, oil pastel, soft pastel, paint markers, collage, magazine imagery, newspaper, book pages, maps, photographs, photocopies, image transfers, typography, handwriting, stitching, thread, fabric, tape, tissue paper, cardboard, stamps, stencils, coffee or tea staining, graphite or charcoal powder, found-object printing, and digitally altered imagery that is printed and physically incorporated back into the artwork.

BUT THREE MEDIA DOES NOT MEAN THREE DECORATIONS.
Do not add materials simply because the assignment requires them.

Ask yourself:
What does this material DO for the artwork?
A material might communicate, emphasize, conceal, reveal, connect, disrupt, repeat, contrast, unify, or transform.

Charcoal might intensify movement. Transparent watercolor might establish atmosphere without destroying the drawing underneath. Photography could introduce another point of view. Collage might create fragmentation. Text could suggest memory or internal thought. Stitching could physically connect separate parts of the composition.

THE ORIGINAL DRAWING MUST SURVIVE
Your one-hour observational drawing is the foundation of the final artwork. Do not simply cover it up.

You may alter it, draw back into it, partially obscure areas, integrate other imagery, extend it, crop it visually, contrast against it, or allow portions to disappear beneath translucent layers, but the original observational drawing should remain an important and recognizable part of the finished work.
Think of it as the structural skeleton of everything that follows.

LOOK BEYOND THE SURFACE
Once observation is established, ask what else the figure might communicate.

What does the pose suggest?
What could the figure become?
What might exist around it?
Could you explore identity, memory, pressure, isolation, movement, technology, environment, emotion, time, repetition, vulnerability, strength, humor, contradiction, or something completely unexpected?

There is no single correct answer. There is, however, a difference between a random decision and an intentional one.

THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF ART 3 THINKING
You are entering a level of the DRHSART program where simply demonstrating technical skill is no longer enough. We are beginning to think about the habits that eventually become central to AP-level artmaking:
Observation · Investigation · Experimentation · Risk-Taking · Revision · Material Exploration · Visual Communication · Intention · Personal Voice

You are not expected to already know exactly what your finished artwork will look like. Observe carefully. Build a strong foundation. Experiment intelligently. Take risks. Respond to what happens. Revise when necessary. Make every material earn its place.

The first hour demonstrates how well you can see.  The next three hours begin to demonstrate what you can do with what you saw.

This is the first Art History intensive lecture series for students in the DRHSART program.  In this unit, we will explore the depths of the Renaissance and how it both echoed the great art of the past, while setting the stage for the great art of the future.  There is no more important era in Art History, and for that reason we will begin our journey here.

Please download the annotated One Note package that contains all of the Power Point presentations, flashcards, and detail slides that I've created for this unit.  You can also add to these notes very easily in this organized package.